Residents of conflictive Rio slum stage protest

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Residents of a Rio de Janeiro slum that saw deadly clashes with police earlier this week are staging a protest in the Copacabana beach neighborhood.

Several hundred people have taken to the main thoroughfare of the much-transited neighborhood in Thursday's protest. It appeared to be largely peaceful, despite reports of an initial scuffle between demonstrators and police.

The protest followed the burial of a young man, Douglas Pereira, whose shooting death sparked clashes Tuesday between police and residents of the Pavao-Pavaozinho "favela" slum.

Rio state's top security official has acknowledged Pereira may have been shot by police.

The slum is sandwiched between two of Rio's highest-rent neighborhoods and just a few hundred meters from a key venue for the 2016 Olympics. Another young man was killed in the conflict.